Definitely amazing... love "7 Milli". Stones Throw recently signing dudes like him and Homeboy Sandman are kinda ushering in a new kind of rap for their brand... I prefer it to the Guilty Simpson type stuff, where the raps wouldn't hold up on their own very well without the amazing beats. And Jonwayne brings a whole new flavor too... glad about the new ST blood!

I prefer it to the Guilty Simpson type stuff, where the raps wouldn't hold up on their own very well without the amazing beats.

I used to say stupid shit like that with regards to GS, then I actually started listening to him. The whole verse to 'Ode to the Ghetto' is saying way more than this Julian cat is saying in any of these tracks. Don't be so quick to disregard Guilty's abilities.

I used to say stupid shit like that with regards to GS, then I actually started listening to him. The whole verse to 'Ode to the Ghetto' is saying way more than this Julian cat is saying in any of these tracks. Don't be so quick to disregard Guilty's abilities.

Maybe, maybe.... but its the lack of variety in flows that kinda gets me about him. I wanna hear someone push the rhythmic envelopes, that ain't really Guilty. Dunno if its Julian either, haven't heard enough - Homeboy is definitely an advanced emcee tho. I just always thought it was funny that, Stones Throw, with many of the best musicians in the world today, doesn't have a lot of emcees on the same level.

Maybe, maybe.... but its the lack of variety in flows that kinda gets me about him. I wanna hear someone push the rhythmic envelopes, that ain't really Guilty. Dunno if its Julian either, haven't heard enough - Homeboy is definitely an advanced emcee tho. I just always thought it was funny that, Stones Throw, with many of the best musicians in the world today, doesn't have a lot of emcees on the same level.

This is so strange to me. I've been working on an album with some rappers for the past year and one dude in particular is all about his 'inflections' and how much he can change up his flow yada yada yada. As a producer, and a listener, in general I like it when a rapper can stay very consistent with his tone and delivery(e.g. Raekwon on everything he has ever rapped on). Maybe its just the old man in me but it does seem to be a lot of theses younger cats that are all about the fluctuations in their deliveries. I will agree though monk that Homeboy's skills are quite nice. His ability to let the track breathe at moments kind of reminds me horn player in a jazz band.

I used to say stupid shit like that with regards to GS, then I actually started listening to him. The whole verse to 'Ode to the Ghetto' is saying way more than this Julian cat is saying in any of these tracks. Don't be so quick to disregard Guilty's abilities.

This is so strange to me. I've been working on an album with some rappers for the past year and one dude in particular is all about his 'inflections' and how much he can change up his flow yada yada yada. As a producer, and a listener, in general I like it when a rapper can stay very consistent with his tone and delivery(e.g. Raekwon on everything he has ever rapped on). Maybe its just the old man in me but it does seem to be a lot of theses younger cats that are all about the fluctuations in their deliveries. I will agree though monk that Homeboy's skills are quite nice. His ability to let the track breathe at moments kind of reminds me horn player in a jazz band.

Good point.... I agree with you in terms of tone tho, definitely. An emcee with a different tone on every track is probably an emcee who hasn't rapped enough to get his voice ironed out. But rhythm variation is the emcee interacting with the music - dancing over the drums. Maybe it's taste, but I always loved how Buckshot's voice is almost like drums on Black Moon's debut - a lot of swing and dancing in the pockets. Or the unpredictability & color of Kool Keith in his best days.

I like what you say about Homeboy sounding jazz - that's what I mean, emcees with the musicality to experiment with rhythm and color. Since you're a producer maybe you've experienced the same thing as me that it's just never as fun to work with emcees who don't have much of a sense of why music works like it does - I'm not saying they gotta know music theory, but there's the kind of emcee who waits til they hear the beat that clicks with them and the kind who can be involved in the development of the music.

I'm no longer really talking about Guilty, got derailed - just a general comment, what I think is interesting in rap. Especially this late in the game, when the 90s already gave us thousands of great, straightforward emcees. I'm ready for some jazz-rapping!

Just playing, but that does seem to be the consensus around these parts with regard to every ST release that doesn't have The Madlib's name attached.

Well, yeah. Hopefully time was short between announcement and digital release.

Julian Malone did a really good mixtape and I still listen to it time to time.

Maybe he should spread the rumor that he will perform over some Madlib beat. Maybe all ST artists should do that btw. An Anika Krautkonducta collab. And some mix CD called Blunted in the Lion Shelter. DJ Rels on a Leaving records compilation. Hype stuffs like that.